Introduction: On Sunday 4th October, as part of the world track championships, I took on the famous "Hour on the track". I did this for several reasons, foremost of which is to raise some much needed funds for my school, Roddensvale. Follow the final stage of my journey and the eventual outcome as I turned myself inside out in the pursuit of the furthest distance I could cover in this time!
27/09/15
I have requested 3 days unpaid leave for the first time in 12 years as a school Principal following a conversation I had with Brian Nugent the last time I was out in Palma in August. He suggested that to be optimal for Manchester I would need four days on the track the week of the attempt. So here I am back in Palma!
This afternoon was a shock to the system. One 15 minute effort at 1.20 pace seemed hard but ok but 3 x 5 minutes at a 17.5/18/18.5 second average was really hard. My pace on Sunday will hopefully be around 18.6 seconds per lap and the thought of holding that for an hour, after today, seems impossible. However Brian is such a positive guy as is Stephen Gallagher (Dig Deep Coaching – Inspired Cycling) and they have both been telling me that with the addition of a double disc set, my fastest skin suit and the ‘crowd’ on the day I can do this. I use the word crowd lightly since it may well consist of my family plus a few close friends and perhaps an old man and his dog!
Today is the tough one.
28/09/15
If I thought yesterday was tough today is going to be brutal!!! I have sore legs from my shock to the system yesterday but I am just so glad to be getting the feeling now and not on Sunday. The session is a 40 minute ride to the track with a 20 minutes warm up including some standing starts on the track. After the warm up I will attempt 3x20 minutes at race pace or approximately 18.6 seconds per lap. These will be done as a flying start and will conclude with a 10 minute warm down. Then it will be a 40 minute ride back to the hotel.
The emotion I feel about Sunday is hard to put into words. Can I do this? Do I have enough guts to overcome the pain I will feel? Brian says it has to be just doing the homework this week. He knows I work in education! Sunday has to be routine according to him. Like all the preparation is done and the hour is just putting it all together. The problem for me is that I have never ridden in Manchester. Everything will be unfamiliar. The logistics of getting family and friends over will have to be put out of my mind. Stephen reckons I will need to be selfish. I will just have to focus on myself. Once I get onto my bike on Sunday morning I will be back on familiar ground I hope.
My good friend and fellow fund raiser for Roddensvale School, James Brown, has been talking to me about having back up equipment should something go wrong which makes good sense. I will bring a spare skin suit, shoes, chain, wheels and helmet what else could possibly go wrong?!!!! I also have a number of administration type stuff to do today like pay for track time, call into the bike shop for protein bars and gels (Stephen reckons I need sweet things in addition to recovery protein after these tough track sessions) also I need to fax through some stuff for Manchester. I want to book a set of rollers, lock up for the track bike overnight on Saturday and maybe a transponder to capture my lap times for posterity!
I have had a bit of a psychological wobble over pedals and power meters this week. It is a long story but basically I had considered throwing a set of stages (the left crank based power meter) on but I don’t think it is compatible with my track bike so I will stick with the vectors. They are perhaps a little less aero but Brian does not feel this area of the bike is quite as important as others for drag. It means I will be using a look cleat though on the Garmin Vector pedals which is a more fixed position to the float I usually get from my speed play pedals on the training bike. Stephen McKenzie, who owns the Velo Culture Bike and Triathlon shops in Ballymena and Portrush, has positioned my Garmin pedals and shoes with his state of the art Shimano bike fit equipment so that gives me peace of mind. Plus Brian et al have told me not to change too much at this stage. I was knocking out race pace for 40 minutes with this shoe and pedal combination in August so if it is not broken do not try to change it!
Good Blood
The other confidence booster I had before I came away to Palma this time was a positive assessment of my blood composition. Prior to using the oxygen tent and training with the mask in hypoxia I was low in iron and my hemoglobin and hemocrit levels were low. After a month of sleeping at simulated altitude and some excruciating training sessions with the breathing mask my numbers are up. Stephen and Aaron I asked not to tell me the exact numbers for fear they might play with my head. If there had been no improvement I would obviously have been really disappointed that all the effort had been for nothing. Too high numbers and I might think this thing would be easy and I should never start to believe that for even a moment. I do know that Stephen said my levels had improved more than he would have thought possible. Stephen has used this type of equipment before so he knows what he is talking about.
Getting there lap by lap and metre by metre
29/09/15
The count down has well and truly started and yesterday was a big day on the track with 3 efforts done holding race pace which is what Stephen wanted so I am pleased. The addition of the double disc, as kindly provided by Brian, plus the aero skin suit from Drag2Zero made holding 18.6 considerably easier than day one here. Martyn Irvine was ripping it up on the track in between my humble efforts and was as helpful as ever to me with nuggets of advice in the breaks. He is recommending I use a more aero pedal set up than the vectors which will mean no power data but lap times and heart rate is all Stephen really needs. The aero pedals are still compatible with the look cleats and thus my shoe position so the work done with Stephen McKenzie is not compromised. I know Brian reckoned the vectors would not cost me much but as Martyn suggested this thing could come down to a few metres even after an hour! Martyn is unbelievably generous and is lending me his aero chain ring (which he will need back for the European Championships in two weeks time) to help save me a watt or two. David Muntaner has once again been wonderful in assisting me with back up equipment and lubing up parts of my bike I never even knew needed it!
Having just reread the above I am conscious that if you are reading this as a non cyclist you may well be losing the will to live by now! Bike parts and in the detail being discussed must be about as interesting as watching paint dry to most. Perhaps it is worth mentioning the human story and the back drop to this whole thing again which ever someone who does not ride a bike can relate to.
My emotions swing on a frequent basis. I lurch from being calm and collected to moments of pure panic. Invariably the panic comes from something related to the logistics. Have I remembered to find out where I have to register and gain accreditation on Saturday? What do I do about transport with my bike to the velodrome from the hotel? Even dumb stuff like will they have a track pump at the velodrome - even though I know they will somewhere as it is a national centre for cycling! It is this type of crazy thinking that sends me into a panic attack at times and drains mental energy.
Stephen wants me to chill out today and prepare for tomorrows 40 minute effort at race pace. I plan to get some admin done regarding the above which will allow me to relax a little. Then I will take an easy spin to the track (if you can call weaving through the inner city Palma traffic easy) to make final adjustments to the bike and set the world to rights with the lads. It was great to meet the track super stars from Ireland yesterday and together with Martyn were Mark Downey, Fintan Ryan, Marc Potts and Felix English. They looked really impressive on the track and were doing some massive efforts including working with the motorbike for motor pacing. The ladies team are also here preparing for the European Championships so the track is really buzzing.
The best laid plans!
Unfortunately I never made it to the track today. Last night I nearly wrote myself off against the side of a very long double length bus on wet roads going through Palma in the dusk. I was completely strung out by the time I got back to the hotel. Just as I was thinking about going down to the track this afternoon it started raining and I remembered battling through the traffic on wet greasy roads and thought discretion might be the better part valour so I did my hour and a half on the bike on quiet roads near the hotel instead of going to the track.
I have a massive test tomorrow of 40 minutes at full gas and it is late so I am crashing out in a moment. Perhaps crashing out is the wrong choice of phrase when I have to face Palma city centre in the rain again tomorrow. As you can tell I am trying to be very precious with myself right now. After the track it will be a late flight home to Belfast and arriving in Ballycastle in the early hours. Then it will be a tight turn around and a flight to Manchester late on Friday night. Not to mention two days on catch up at work in between. I have been trying to keep on top of emails and texting the Vice Principal so I know what awaits me when I get into the office. After Sunday we hope to purchase an achieva learning centre which is like an ‘all singing and dancing’ orthopedic bed for some of the young people with complex medical needs. After the hour I may well need to use it myself!
27/10/15
Ok so it has been a while since I last wrote anything and yes the hour is over! The hour has been completed by almost a month. It has taken me until now to gather myself to write. The hour event itself I will return to after I finish up telling you about the final preparations.
The final days in Palma
My last day on the track may have been an omen in hindsight. I was supposed to do a 40 minute test at race pace. I had my new skin suit and helmet. Everything ought to have been right for me to perform well. However I started off too fast, even though Brian had warned me not to, when I settled down after 8 laps I was still lapping at over 48kmph. With 19 minutes done I was hurting too deep and too early. As my lap times slid out to 19.5 seconds Brian could see I was dying and pulling me off with only 23 minutes completed. I was devastated but Brian gave me some very reassuring feedback which really helped and I quickly packed up my bike into a bike box and headed for the airport.
Travelling back to Manchester
I had a very tight turn around arriving back from Palma in the early hours of Thursday morning and flying out to Manchester late on Friday night. I had been worrying about the logistics of same and now it was upon me. Fortunately at the eleventh hour Stephen linked me up with a contact in Manchester that took the stress right out of it. Neil O’Brian is a guy who offers support for cyclists and is one of the most amazingly supportive people I could have wished for to assist me. To cut a long story short he pretty much took care of all the logistics when I got to Manchester.
The hour has come
On Sunday 04 October I completed 45.79km in one hour. It gave me an Irish master’s record and was only 367m short of Tommy Evans 16 year old elite record which is just over a lap or maybe about 25 seconds of difference. Colin Sturgess, the former world pursuit track champion and track side for me, said afterwards that he could have saved me 400m with a better line on the track. The weather also played a part with the velodrome a cool 10 to 14 degrees and biometric pressure in Manchester less than perfect. Having said all that I should be happy that I smashed through the 45km barrier set by Cycling Ireland to achieve a master’s record. I still would have liked to have travelled just that little bit further but perhaps everyone feels that after the hour?
During the attempt it was clear from the first 20 minutes that I was not going as fast as I had done in Palma during my preparations so Colin and Stephen adjusted their calculations and eventually Colin was letting me know that with 12 minutes to go I was just up on Tommy’s record. However I was hurting big time. My speed was slowing slightly each lap and I was starting to slide off pace. Colin attempted to lift and encourage me. I was aware of Peter Jack on commentary telling me I was still on to break the Irish elite record if I could just dig deep.
When you are already on the limit it is hard to find anything else and I thought about what the hour meant to me. The sacrifices I had made, the hours of training and detailed preparation, not to mention living like a monk for months! Plus all the personal reasons behind why I was doing this like fund raising for pupils at Roddensvale. Thoughts of my recently deceased father flooded my mind. I reflected on all those who had influenced and touched me on my journey with their generosity and kindness.
It is often said that you can judge people by their actions and when I put myself on the line to do this I really saw who was truly there for me. I appreciated who really got what the hour meant to me and who supported me. I drew on all these influences to try and hold it together in the closing stages. I lifted the pace momentarily but felt my legs buckling and I was worried that if I attempted to push through then I would cramp and possibly not even be able to finish. I needed to drop back to a pace I could sustain without blowing completely.
The last 7 minutes were hell on earth. Each minute felt like an hour. I hung on with all I had and gave it everything. Looking back I can honesty say that I could not have given any more. My throat was parched dry and Stephen said afterwards I was ashen white and my lips were blue. There was a photo taken as I sat recovering and I looked like I had aged 30 years! When I tried to dismount from the bike I remember thinking that my legs had turned to jelly and I was aware that my glutes were completely shot. Colin and Stephen didn’t say much and I felt like I had let them down. My children were crying in the stands and the rest of my family and friends looked like they were in shock. As I tried to get my head around what had just happened I felt devastated but tried to pick out the positives and eventually those around me began to try to be supportive.
Failure to perform!
Immediately after the event I was introduced to an official who informed me that I would be required to give a urine sample for doping control. I followed him to an area below the track and filled out all the appropriate documentation, drank water, then waited for nature to take its course. Stephen Gallagher had kindly offered to sit with me whilst I waited. It was Stephen’s wedding anniversary and I have absolutely no doubt he would have preferred to have been at home with his wife rather than waiting for me to perform into a cup! Two women aged in their 70’s from the USA came and went (literally) as Stephen and I sat on. I must have drunk 10 small 500ml bottles of water until finally, 3.5 hours after the event finished, I managed to produce a sample. Relieved (in every sense) I went back up to my family and friends and we beat a hasty retreat from the velodrome.
The dehydration from the hour must have been immense so I immediately went about redressing the balance with a beer at a Chinese restaurant near the hotel with friends and family. When the food came it tasted fantastic and one beer quickly became two as I started to feel human again. I could still hardly sit down because of the tightness in my glutes and I was so very tired however the food, drink and great company revived my spirits and for the first time after the hour I started to feel content with what I had achieved.
The flight was delayed 3 hours and I lost my phone somewhere between the boarding area and the plane which I never recovered. Eventually I arrived home and collapsed exhausted into bed with the prospect of an early alarm for work looming. I pondered in hindsight whether an evening start might have led to a warmer velodrome and an optimal time for my body to race but I reckon this is one of the reasons why I would not do the hour again. You could do everything right. Train right, eat right, sleep and train in simulated altitude, plus spend a fortune getting track time and coaching whenever and whenever you could get it only to find that conditions on the day were not ideal. For me that is a real deal breaker and a chance I am not prepared to take again. To steal and adapt a phrase from Sir Stephen Redgrave “If anyone even so much as even sees me close to a track bike, you have my permission to shoot me” That said I have not put the frame on eBay just yet because I have not ruled out possibly dabbling with other track events in the future but the hour is a different story.
What now?
A month or so on from the hour I have received some extremely supportive comments from a number of very kind people. The fact that I even got so close to a record set by the legend that is Tommy Evans has caused quite a stir. I have also been given an invitation by Dennis Toomey (cycling Ireland president) to the Cycling Ireland awards night in November which is both a first for me and an honour.
The week after the hour I was pretty depressed to be honest and never rode my bike all week which is very unlike me. Over the last few weeks I have been getting out a bit but am still struggling to set goals and get motivated. Stephen has been great and we have been talking on the phone about what a buck eejit at 51 years of age can do next. I like to try to set myself different challenges each year but also revisit unfinished business I have with events I feel I have not quite cracked yet. There is no fool like an old fool so they say and I guess I prove the point!
The link to raising funds for pupils at Roddensvale School is still open if anyone has enjoyed reading about my journey and is keen to support some pupils with complex medical needs at the School http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/CyclingHourRecordAttempt
As stated earlier we hope to buy an orthopedic bed and Ballycastle Cycling, with help from the amazing Gordon Parker et al, recently raised two thousand two hundred pounds, through a sportive, to add to the approximately seven hundred pounds raised by the hour attempt so we are well on our way to achieving the total for the bed of five thousand four hundred pounds.
I need to say a massive thank you to, not only all those who got behind me for the hour, but also the many who have been kind enough to donate in any way to help some very deserving young people. There really are too many to mention but you all have my sincere appreciation and gratitude on behalf of the pupils.
Watch this space with regard to my next hair brained scheme to raise funds for the school through cycling. As for right now I reckon I will continue to take things easy for a while.